


now my head is on backwards

by lieu42



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Adam Parrish Is Trying His Best, Fluff, M/M, Pre-The Raven Boys, Ronan Lynch is Bad at Feelings, ronan threatens to punch people's lights out for one latin class straight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 17:07:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20678903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lieu42/pseuds/lieu42
Summary: adam's fallen asleep in latin class. ronan is a good friend and gives him a hand.(alternatively, ronan swears at everyone, whelk leaves a whole class unattended to get starbucks, henry lowkey hopes adam has died, and gansey plays cricket.)





	now my head is on backwards

**Author's Note:**

> gansey playing cricket is probably horribly inaccurate because I keep forgetting trc is set in america. feel free to mentally substitute for baseball or bareback horseriding or whatever you feel is quintessentially american

It was a quiet day in Latin class, and Whelk was lecturing on some shit Ronan could have really cared less about. He made a face at Henry Cheng across the room and stared out of the window into the sun-lit Aglionby field. Figures in cricket whites danced across the green grass. Ronan looked for Gansey, but gave up after a few minutes, preferring to watch the birds instead.

Whelk conjugated a verb on the chalkboard. Someone put their hand up to ask a question then thought better of it. Ronan chewed on his wristbands. Someone made a snide remark from the back of the class. Whelk ignored it. There was a gentle thud as Adam Parrish slumped across his table.

‘Wow, is he dead?’ said Henry. ‘Does this mean we all graduate? We all graduate if someone dies in class, right?’

‘Only if it’s in an exam,’ someone else said. Ronan stared at the back of Adam’s head, dusty curls sprawled in an unruly manner. He wondered if Adam had slept at all last night.

‘Sir, Adam’s dead,’ said Henry, waving a hand in the air.

Whelk ignored him. ‘I’m just going to collect some papers,’ he said, checking his watch. ‘You boys behave while I’m gone.’

He left, slamming the door hard behind him.

‘Wow, okay,’ said Henry. Ronan made a snide remark at him.

Most of the boys went back to conjugating, or talking, or comparing mobile phones and cars, or just flinging spitballs and paper aeroplanes around the room. Adam did not stir. Ronan grabbed a long ruler and poked the boy sat next to Adam in the back.

‘Ow, dickhead,’ said the boy. Ronan didn’t know his name. He had nice hair, though, so he was probably friends with Gansey.

‘Shake Adam’s shoulder,’ said Ronan. ‘Just gently, though. You hurt him and I’ll punch your lights out.’

The boy blinked at him.

‘Go on,’ said Ronan, gesturing with the ruler.

The boy put a hand on Adam’s shoulder and shook it, very gently. Adam flopped slightly, a veritable ragdoll. Ronan caught a glimpse of his face, eyes shut and lips slightly parted. There was a fresh bruise on his cheek. That was probably why he hadn’t been sleeping.

God, Ronan was going to kill Robert Parrish one of these days.

‘He’s dead asleep,’ said the boy, glancing at Ronan and keeping a careful eye on the ruler. ‘Want me to try again?’

Ronan tugged at his wristbands. ‘Just let him sleep.’

‘He looks dead pissed,’ said someone from the back. ‘Fucking trailer trash -’

They did not finish their sentence, because Ronan had turned abruptly and stared them down with so much intensity they actually sank down in their seat a little.

Adam was still asleep. Ronan glanced out of the window, looking for Gansey again, but the white figures were impossible to tell apart. He hoped Adam would wake up. He knew Adam hated falling asleep in class, hated showing weakness to anybody and hated the possibility of missing out on anything. Latin verbs were not something a college scholarship was staked on, but he knew how much Adam would already be stressing over missing out.

Whelk was still gone, too. Ronan glanced at the verb sheet everyone else was filling in.  _ Reminder that this will be marked at the end of the lesson _ , Whelk had added.

Well, that sorted it, then.

Ronan slapped the boy next to Adam with the ruler again.

‘Will you  _ seriously  _ fuck off,’ the boy said, rubbing the back of his head.

‘We’re switching places,’ said Ronan. ‘Grab your shit.’

The boy did, grumbling solidly about how it was just because Ronan was gay for Adam, and a few choice words. Ronan tripped him up as he walked down the aisle, then took the seat next to Adam.

Adam must have been seriously exhausted to sleep through all of that. He looked more peaceful from this angle, though. Less like he’d just passed out. His shoulders rose and fell slowly, his freckles just visible through his thin white shirt. His face was more peaceful, too, the crease between his eyebrows gone and his hair falling in his eyes. Ronan blinked and forgot what he was doing for a moment. Latin. Of course. He pulled Adam’s sheet towards him, teased the pen from Adam’s long fingers and began to fill in the sheet in his neatest handwriting. Which was still abominably shit, but at least he was trying.

And then before he knew it, the sheet was half done and he felt the presence of someone at his shoulder and turned to see Whelk peering at him.

‘Mr Lynch. You do understand that if you put that much effort in your own work, you would probably be a lot more likely to graduate. Let’s leave Adam to his own work now, shall we?’

Ronan filled in another few words, ignoring him.

Whelk frowned. ‘It’s against Aglionby policies for students to do each other’s work. I’ve asked you politely, now please stop doing Adam’s work.’

Ronan looked up at him and said, ‘I haven’t done jack shit.’

‘What?’

Ronan said, louder, ‘I haven’t done jack shit. Adam did his own work.’

‘Ronan, I can  _ see  _ you -’

‘Your eyesight’s fucked then. Now can you piss off so I - so Adam can get on with his work.’

Adam remained slumped over the table, breathing softly. Ronan shoved the sheet under his hand.

Whelk said ‘ _ Ronan _ ,’ in a disappointed manner, but left him to it.

Ronan finished the sheet in five minutes, gave Adam the pen back, then put his own head on the table and attempted to join Adam in sleep. Normally sleeping was an effective way to pass lessons, but there was always a risk Ronan would dream, so usually he just put his headphones in and drifted off to some inbetween-place where it was dark and dreamless.

Today, though, he was finding it hard to fall asleep. Mostly because he kept opening his eyes every few seconds to check on Adam. Ronan told himself he was just checking Adam hadn’t accidentally suffocated himself, but maybe it was something more. He probably just cared about Adam a bit more than he’d thought he had. They were friends, after all. Pretty good friends. It was no different than how he’d always check Gansey had eaten at least once in the day, Ronan reasoned. Nothing more.

But even when his eyes were closed, he still saw Adam. Adam flurried through his head in montages. The way his hair curled in whorls at the back of his head, the freckles across the slightly crooked bridge of his nose, the way his face suddenly changed entirely whenever he smiled. Ronan didn’t even notice himself drifting off until there was a hand on his shoulder and he blinked awake.

It was Adam. Ronan mentally checked if he was dreaming, but none of the usual signs were there. Adam was standing over him, head cocked sideways.

‘We’re the only ones left,’ he said. ‘Come on. I think we have politics?’

Ronan yawned and stood up, stretching. ‘I can see why politicians are all out of their minds. Politics does my head in.’

Adam smiled, a quick, hidden thing. He looked much more refreshed than when Ronan had seen him last. His face was brighter and the bruise was less obvious, and his hair curled in his eyes in a way Ronan didn’t often get to see.

They headed out across the field to their next class, straying behind the large gaggle of boys who talked and whistled and mock-fought and shouted in perfect rich-boy demeanor. For once, Adam didn’t seem to care if they were a little late. He pushed his tie up to meet his collar and cleared his throat, turning to Ronan.

‘I was asleep, wasn’t I?’ His hand went to the bruise in a way he didn’t seem to even notice, circling the mark once then retreating to his pocket.

‘Yep.’ Ronan kept his gaze firmly affixed to the ground, kicking at a stray stone.

‘You could’ve woken me.’ Adam didn’t sound upset, more just resigned.

‘You seemed pretty asleep. And it doesn’t do you harm. Whelk wasn’t teaching anything useful, just going over old stuff.’ Ronan attempted to sound both bored and empathetic, and wasn’t sure he’d pulled it off. Adam seemed satisfied, though.

They walked in silence for a few more paces, until the main group of Aglionby boys had already entered the block and it was just the two of them left.

‘Thanks for covering for me, anyway,’ said Adam, speaking so quickly and quietly that Ronan almost missed it.

It gave him a strange feeling, though, as he opened the door for Adam and they both hurried the rest of the way to class. Ronan had not expected or even wanted Adam to acknowledge the Latin sheet, more just to quietly accept it as goodwill. Ronan knew how hard it was for Adam to accept anything - food from Gansey, lifts home from Ronan, even just people offering to buy his lunch.

So this was different. This was special. And Ronan couldn’t help but feel strangely gratified. He tilted his head back, pulled at his collar and finally allowed himself a smile.


End file.
